Local dancers perform 'Peter Pan and Wendy'

HARBOR SPRINGS -- It's the classic tale of the boy who refused to grow up, and along the way, meets up with mermaids, pirates and fairies from another world.

This weekend, the story of "Peter Pan and Wendy" will be told by more than 150 dancers from the Crooked Tree Dance Department as they present a full-length ballet of the tale.

The ballet will follow Peter Pan, a mischievous young boy who can fly and his adventures with Wendy, Tinker Bell and Captain Hook.

"After having such a great time and success with our first full-length ballet, 'Alice in Wonderland' last year, we decided it would be most appropriate to do a full-length story ballet every June," said Dance Department director, Heather Raue. "With so many great stories out there, we deliberated for quite awhile, until we became most inspired by 'Peter Pan and Wendy.'"

A total of 160 performers will take part in the ballet, some as young as 4 years old. There will also be 19 pre-professional dancers in the performance.

The choreography is all original, and was designed by Raue and fellow teachers, Karrie Benedict and Stephanie Overton.

Most of the costumes were also made locally, and local piano student, Charles Millard, also collaborated on some of the music selections.

Raue calls music in the performance, "diverse and rich," which includes selections by Strauss, Tom Waits, Nina Simone and Debussy.

Sets are also original and include a 30-foot pirate ship.

"I instructed my students to read the book, as I did many times, so that they would be able to bring their characters to life," Raue explained. "Creating a ballet based on a story is a fun challenge as we must decide how to best translate words into movement."

Raue is adamant that the performers follow the book as closely as possible. As a result in last year's "Alice in Wonderland" performance, she noted the principal dancers in the performance had developed their acting skills before coming to the first day of rehearsal.

"All the dancers are excited to get on stage and share what they have proudly been working on since February," Raue said.

There will be three performances of "Peter Pan and Wendy." While the performance scheduled for 7 p.m., today, Friday, June 10, is sold out, tickets are still available for performances at 1 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 11, at the Harbor Springs Performing Arts Center.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and are available at Crooked Tree Arts Center in Petoskey by calling (231) 347-4337 or visiting www.crookedtree.org.

Tickets are also available at Between the Covers in Harbor Springs, Ga Ga for Kids in Charlevoix. Tickets will also be available at the performance.